Chapter 131 - - 131 Pink Flag_1

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The days adrift at sea were monotonous.

And with only a few people aboard the ship, the joy wrung from them had peaked. If one wanted to continue improving through joy, they’d need to wait until docking to affect more people.

So.

Duge could only focus on fishing.

In the simulation arena, strength was the foundation of survival. Otherwise, when encountering other players, you’d be killed with a single blow, and even the most advanced skills would be useless.

Moreover, with the limited information on board, aside from fishing there wasn’t much else he could do.

When the captain fished, when Duge went fishing, his strength increased rapidly.

The sea was brimming with fish; each one caught added to his strength.

Occasionally, if he was lucky to encounter a school of sardines or a group of large fish like whale sharks, Duge’s stats would rocket up as if he were on a rocket, soaring upwards.

In the past few days, his rank had jumped from over nine hundred to 223.

By now, there were only a little over six hundred candidates left in the simulation arena. It had to be said that even for elites, surviving in the simulation arena was quite difficult.

In the end, it was a game of luck.

Not to mention his sort of deadly start, nine out of ten wouldn’t survive.

If all he had was the keyword for fishing, he wouldn’t even be able to recover. You might say he could still fish if thrown into the sea.

But death meant immediate elimination from the game, and even if the fish nibbled the body clean, he wouldn’t gain any attributes…

…

Through several days of fishing, Duge had gained new insights.

Dolphins are not fish, turtles are not fish, crabs are not fish; touching them does not increase any stats.

However, touching octopuses, whales, and squids does increase stats.

In biological terms, octopuses and squids are mollusks, while whales are mammals, but here, they were all considered fish.

That is to say.

The simulation arena had two ways to define fish: those that naturally are fish, and those bearing the word ‘fish’ in their names.

Following this logic, Duge felt that if he touched Jiang Xiaoyu from “The Legendary Siblings,” he could also make him his private property…

A skillful fisher would be better paired with a skill that could change other people’s names.

…

On the fifth day of drifting at sea, Duge finally saw land.

The pirate ship needed to dock to resupply daily necessities and fresh water, so Barry and the others lowered the pirate flag and raised the flag of an ordinary merchant ship.

Pirates, after all, are illegal entities. If they brazenly approached the shore with a pirate flag, it would be a provocation against the navy, inviting immediate bombardment from the coast and encirclement by the navy.

No pirate ship would be foolish enough to do such a thing.

But once the pirate flag was removed, even if the coastal troops knew you were pirates, they’d turn a blind eye, allowing you to resupply on land.

After all.

Pirates spending money on shore could stimulate the economy of the coastal towns.

…

Duge leapt from the sea onto the deck, shaking the droplets from his hair, and approached Barry with a smile, “Barry, after we land, find a tailor’s shop. We’re going to change the flag.”

“Change it to what?” Barry’s heart skipped a beat as he asked.

“Didn’t I tell you before? A pink flag with a smiling skull.” Duge gave Barry a strange look, eyeing the pirate hat on his head, “Not just the flag needs changing, but also the pattern on our pirate hats. We will become pirates who can bring joy to others. Moreover, I plan to rename the ship Smile Angel.”

“Paul, if we do that, our peers will laugh their heads off, and from then on, no one would ever fear us again.” Barry’s face flushed with anger. “I absolutely disagree with changing the flag to pink.”

“But it’s my ship. Why does my ship need your approval?” Duge said. “I can change it into whatever I want. I could even paint the entire ship pink and cover it with women’s underwear…”

“Paul, if you insist on changing the flag to pink, Wayne and I, as well as everyone else on the ship, will leave.” Barry angrily declared.

“It doesn’t matter! I’ve already lost my memory; to me, you are no different from a bunch of strangers.” Duge chuckled, “Anyway, we’re about to go ashore. I can recruit a new crew at any time, those who share my vision, and I will search for happiness with them…”

Damn it!

Barry was stunned; he suddenly came to his enlightenment, realizing that Paul, who had lost his memory, was simply using them to steer the ship back to shore.

The previous notion that the ship was his did not exist at all.

As long as Paul was alive, the ship would always be his, and no one could take it away…

But could he really give up this ship?

Impossible!

If he could afford a ship, he would have become a captain on his own long ago!

Moreover, after Paul became stronger, they hadn’t pulled off a proper job yet; he didn’t even have a retirement fund in his hands…

Damned Paul!

At this moment, he suddenly missed the old Paul who was obsessed with finding the Sea God Scepter and becoming the Pirate King.

At least that Paul had ambitious fighting spirit, not like now, where he was solely fixated on being a Happy Clown who brought joy to the people!

…

“Paul, have you ever thought about going after the Sea God Scepter?” Barry took a deep breath, looked at Duge, and said with a smile, “That’s your dream, after all. If you are willing to give up that damned pink skull, we are willing to join you in the hunt for the Sea God Scepter, to make the Giant Bird the supreme ruler over the entire ocean…”

“Barry, the Sea God Scepter is a trap.” Duge shrugged, “Life is short; why should we fight to the death with others for a vain title, instead of seeking more happiness in this brief life? Right, Wayne?”

“…” Wayne glowered, silent.

The parrot Wendy had grown familiar with Duge these days. Perhaps due to its limited brain capacity, it had long forgotten about the ghosts and squawked, “Pink skull, Paul, Barry called you a clown.”

“Shut up.”

Wayne and Paul scolded at the same time.

The parrot flapped its wings and flew away, perching on the mast and continued to squawk, “Barry also said you would become a monster…”

“Barry, did you really say that?” Duge asked, “In your heart, am I that reprehensible?”

“Paul, don’t listen to that silly bird’s nonsense.” Barry looked at Duge, suddenly sighed, “Up to this point, we can’t lie to you anymore. Paul, you didn’t lose your memory from a blow to the head, but because you made a deal with the Sea Demon Selma. You exchanged your memories of the past for immortality, all in order to become the Pirate King someday.

For the position of Pirate King, you gave up too much. If you insist on changing the pirate flag to pink, will you not hate yourself to death when you regain your memories from Selma?”

“I made a deal with Selma?” Duge was taken aback.

“If you don’t believe it, you can stab yourself.” Barry said, “An ordinary person wouldn’t heal automatically from a wound, nor could they dive and hold their breath underwater for half an hour.”

Duge pulled out his curved knife, somewhat incredulously, and slashed his own arm; then, to his amazement, he saw the wound quickly heal. His face lit up with surprise, “By the Sea God above, I really do have immortality.”

“Paul, with immortality, you have the qualifications to compete for the King of the Seas. Why insist on turning yourself into a clown?” Barry said heartbreakingly.

“Barry, if I become the King of the Seas, can’t I have every pirate ship hoist a pink flag?” Duge suddenly became excited.

Are you freaking obsessed with the pink flag or what?

Barry cursed in his mind, but put on a brave face, “Of course, but first you need to become the Pirate King. Then, you can write your rules into the pirate code, you can even have them dance before boarding the ship if you want.”

“Then let’s become Pirate King first?” Duge looked around at everyone.

All the sailors on deck nodded at once.

“Paul, having just one ship fly a pink flag is meaningless. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it for all the pirate ships in the world.” Barry noticed his persuasion was working and, like coaxing a child, struck while the iron was hot, “This crew is familiar with the ship, and we are united in supporting you to become the Pirate King, as long as you give up the idea of dyeing the flag pink.”

“Really?” Duge asked.

“Really.”

Everyone nodded again.

Wayne said, “But you must give up the idea of hoisting a pink flag.”

“I can give up the pink flag, but would you be willing to add a suffix to your names for me?” Duge looked around at everyone, his face earnest, “I firmly believe that sea fish bring me luck. I want each person to add the name of a sea fish to their name. For example, you, Barry Sullivan, could add ‘Flying Fish’ to your name, how about changing it to Barry Sullivan Flying Fish? After all, when a sea fish falls into the water, it doesn’t die…”

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